Cultural Anamnesis. Retellings. Meet the fey, the wise, the mercurial, the historical and imagined. Tales of spirit and worldview. Truths through myth and mystery, reality and allusion. Humana: how and why do its transmitted tales change. A Gristmill site. By Dint. Where do the old signs lead. Follow the dark rope. Hush. It is still there.

In each story, however, is an evildoer: the one who sets the deep sleep of the dependent one in motion. And as the stories progress along a cultural timeline, violent portions, or culturally dissonent characters, are often sanitized, diminished into pap, the better to serve the Powers, my dear. We cannot have role models that lead to autonomy and decisionmaking and action in the underclasses, including females. Is that so? Imagine the Board at Disney, in its fairy tales and also Uncle Remus: No autonomy shall be modeled for them. Diminish them, damn their eyes (reference to an old oath, see Gutenberg book, Tristram Shandy). The diminution of otherwise strong characters in an underclass must be put down, particularly in entertainment.

The symbolism of costume? Some call Melificent's great horns phallic. No resemblance. None. Instead, try great flying fallopian tubes.

B. Sleeping Beauty, the Prequel. Maleficent.

But, soft! What light from yonder Disney breaks. It is Maleficent., the contemporary Disney film about that same Sleeping Beauty, but offering a new perspective, that alters the old Disney trajectory. Disney here offers a prequel, through which Maleficent, the strong fairy who imposes the curse, is set in context. Spoiler alert. See plot at FN . And the girl, the Sleeping Beauty, although still two-dimensionally beautiful and goody-goody, is at least able to take matters in her own hands, forge relationships, go places, make choices.

Maleficent: Maleficent the allegory.

As an allegory, Meleficent is a character standing for many concepts beyond this particular story, see http://literarydevices.net/allegory/ She is not evil, but betrayed, reacting to autonomy literally cut off, angry, hurt, seeking revenge, but even she believed she could undo her own curse. When she could not take back her curse, she took such other steps as were needed to restore Sleeping Beauty's life. Relationship overcomes revenge, in the magical realm at least. What is woman's experience. That is not evil. Who is evil in the tale of Maleficent? The human men, and their drives to overcome, to power for self.

C. Patriarchy in the migration of cultural tales.

Dominance-seeking by the men in the tale shapes both Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent.

Upshot: Disney has, for once, allowed old themes, of speculative but sturdy ideas of pre-patriarchal female strength and honor. Here Disney acknowledges overtly in the film that beings are complex, heroes are not all good or all bad. At least here, the evil ones are the ambitious, the greedy, the seekers of more and more power over others; the ones fighting for their lives, their autonomy free of the kings, are the magical ones, women, beings, a realm hated by the men. The King One with his mailed male army; and the King Two, torn in some ways but without vision: Birds of a feather.

Why call Maleficent evil, because she imposed a revenge on the imposing male by hitting at what he might love; a revenge that she later tried to ameliorate, but when she could not, still took steps to minimize the fallout.

For him, the wings were mere trophies to take from her so he could be king. For her, it was rape of her being.

C. Conclusion:

Disney's prequel to Sleeping Beauty carries more truth in it than the patriarchal escapades later evolving. Betrayal like rape. For Maleficent, the betrayal by the future king, his intrusion into her essence, his taking her wings, was like a rape.

Maleficent is not evil, not originally made with evil tendencies, and showing no capacity
for insight, change. Maleficent instead had been victimized.

Maleficent had
been betrayed by someone she trusted, forcibly deprived of her autonomy. Her extraordinary powers of
self-locomotion (wings!) were literally cut off while she slept, by the perfidy of the
young man who dared not, or could not bring himself to, engage her in a fair battle. She literally grew up with him when he came to the wood from the
castle. Childhood trusting friends!

The era. The kingdom of mankind and the realm of magic had long coexisted in
peace as to each other: the men engaging in their wars, the magical creatures going about living. The fairies and extraordinary creatures, are known to men, but
neither seeks to impose upon the other, each leaving the other to its
own devices. The timeline: medieval, castles, knights, armor,
patriarchy, little if any autonomy granted to anyone not a noble male.

Yet, Maleficent's friendship had been with a
boy, not a magical creature with values like hers, and who was now a man. His life and mind in the kingdom of men are governed by his culture of force,
to get things from others.

The king himself had seen Meleficent's
realm, heard of its powers, and decided that noone would be allowed to
surpass him; and he attacked; and lost. Dying, he declared dthat whoever
overcame Maleficent would be his successor as king. So, overcome by
greed and ambition, he betrays her as she slept; and indeed, as was his
plan, thus met the conditions of the old king and became the old king's
successor. So he could be king, he deprived her of her birthright.

The ambitious young man, accordingly, he who wanted to be king, waited until she was helpless, and then cut her down to size. Sever the wings. From then on, she had to rely on another, a shape-changer elf, to augment her remaining considerable powers. But she could fly no more. She could command, but as a diminished being.